My new favorite quote (courtesy of Kara):
“Waiting is our destiny as creatures who cannot by themselves bring about what they hope for. We wait in the darkness for a flame we cannot light; we wait in fear for a happy ending we cannot write. We wait for a not yet that feels like a not ever. Waiting is the hardest work of hope.â€
– Lewis Smedes
This sentiment fits my life in so many seasonal and long-term ways right now that I can’t believe it! While I am no good at waiting, whether for Advent or anything else, I KNOW that it is indeed good to work on that practice – even good to embrace the tension that I feel while trying to wait. The reality that our creaturely-ness means that we cannot ultimately control what it is that matters, and what it is that we most long for, is one I will likely never tire of needing a reminder on. The truth is that I cannot bring about what I hope for – not really at least, and not in the way I would want to – and I alternately cannot seem to get away from deluding myself for short moments into believing that it is, after all, really up to me. Waiting, trust, hope, faith – good for the dark days of wintery advent, good for this woman’s soul all year round.